Tributes paid to sports journalist Malcolm Brodie

Dr Malcolm Brodie was presented with the Jules Rimet trophy in recognition of his long standing promotion of the beautiful game

Northern Ireland journalist Malcolm Brodie, the former sports editor of the Belfast Telegraph has died at the age of 86.

Brodie, a Scot, reported on 14 World Cup football finals, his first in 1954.

He was evacuated from Glasgow to Portadown, Co Armagh, during the Second World War. It was here that he started his journalistic career before moving to the Telegraph where he set up the paper’s first sports desk.

Brodie was awarded an MBE and an honorary doctorate by the University of Ulster. Fifa also recognised his contribution to journalism.

Jim Gracey, the Belfast Telegraph group’s sports editor, said today: “He was a wonderful man and a wonderful journalist who must have taught generations of sports reporters, myself included.

“He had a contacts book like no other. Everybody in soccer - from Pele to Sir Alex Ferguson - knew him.